Sarah Larbi: REITE Club Nation. Welcome back to another episode. I am Sarah Larbi. I'm here with Alfonso Salemi, and you are in for an awesome podcast with some really creative strategies from Alex and Kaely Pal. So shall we play the podcast? Bring Alex and Kaely in?
Alfonso Salemi: Let's do it.
Sarah Larbi: Alex and Kaely Pal, welcome to the show. How are you?
Kaely Pal: Hi. Great.
Alex Pal: Doing very good. I was super excited for this. I know Kaely was too.
Sarah Larbi: We were talking and last time, Kaely, you were pregnant with your first one, I think when you originally came on our podcast, and now you are almost due with your second.
Yep.
Kaely Pal: This is all very intentional.
Alex Pal: We align our children with the REITE club podcast.
Sarah Larbi: That's hilarious. Obviously you guys are very successful investors and guys, REITE club Nation, feel free to go back to prior episodes where Alex and Kaely were. Just as a 30,000 foot viewer, just a quick overview, can you just describe maybe your strategy or portfolio and then where we last left off? Anything new that has happened? And I know there's a lot of questions in there, but feel free to share.
Alex Pal: I guess I'll start off with who we are, so we have a company called PAL Property Solutions, and this last year, actually it probably last spoke, we've there's been a lot that's taken place. We now have PAL Construction Group as well as we have a we're just starting some in-house property management as well, which is exciting, So what we typically do in our strategy of choice is the BRRRR strategy.
We partner with joint venture partners who would like to be passive and not use any of their own funding, and we do all of the work. We find really great deals here in the greater Hamilton area. So I'd even say as far as well end, we've done properties in Kitchener and we get great returns.
Kaely Pal: We also do rehabs as well.
Alex Pal: Yes. And we do a lot of flips as well. Of course. Yeah I dunno about that.
Alfonso Salemi: REITE Club Nation, if you haven't had a chance to check out Alex's YouTube videos, and I know Kayleigh, you've made some appearances on there. I've seen you guys in the vehicle. And then I love Alex's videos. He does a little bit of a spoof. Like the luxury homes when they, that nice music and those beautiful chimes, but he's walking through a property before the renos with the green shag carpet and San Pellegrino on the countertops.
Alex Pal: Oh, there was one that had a bottle of Dejon mustard. I didn't. But anyway, we also have a full-blown real estate agency team, by the way, called the PAL Realty Group. We are under the Keller Williams umbrella. Which I know a lot of the REITE club members are versed with, but Kaely fronts that whole team and she's been absolutely crushing it this year.
You've even carried a little child around. So yeah, it's been good. But in terms of unit count I know you did our last count cause I get it wrong all the time, so I'm gonna leave that to you.
Kaely Pal: We added 16 more properties. To our portfolio this year.
Sarah Larbi: Wow. 16 congratulations to you guys.
Kaely Pal: Yeah. And you know what, like it seems to be, I get that, everyone has their own challenges, but I'm seeing more people add more properties to their portfolio this year than the opposite, truthfully. And that maybe that's just my feet. The people that I tend to follow the most on Facebook.
I just, it feels like everyone is really exploding this year or there's opportunities out there to do so seeing some pretty cool things. So yeah, we added thoughts. And then obviously like our business itself, like adding the two construction and then the property management arms is pretty big growth as well that we're really excited about for 2021.
Sarah Larbi: I wanna know more about the construction and the management route. Is that for your investments and your JV investments or is that for somebody that needs a contractor or property management separate? Can you give us some insight on that?
Alex Pal: It's theoretically both. We've started it out, independence, so we started on our own projects. I'm a firm believer, like even when I bought, when we bought our first apartment building, we bought it ourselves to learn ourselves. And so then we gain the confidence to do it for other people.
I'm a firm believer that I wouldn't just put a construction hat on, say, Hey, we'll do any work for you that you need done. So now, like we've done so many projects in-house, and so within that we've had to create these systems in order to do them efficiently and to burn insurance through them. So we've had a lot of people throughout the years be like, Hey, can you guys help us?
We can't because we, it's not something we do. And now it's you know what? This, it actually , is something we do. So it's, once again we're trying to service at a high level and we're trying to be a one stop shop because, full disclosure, it helps our business too. Yet we find that we can do it. These are substantially cheaper than what you would find an average contractor to be able to do. It helps our clients as well.
Sarah Larbi: That is interesting. Do like percentage wise of cost savings, are you able to share like what you're seeing versus just a typical contractor out there? Is it a 50% difference, a 40% difference?
Alex Pal: It won't be that much unfortunately, so can't get our hopes up too much.
Kaely Pal: I think the timeline would be a big one. Time like this came out of a need. Again, when you're managing many different Sub Trades or working with many different construction companies, it's a lot to juggle.
We've got anywhere from at least six projects on the go. Right now we have eight, which is pretty normal. So it's a lot of stuff. We just got to the point where we're like, you know what? Enough's enough. I think that we can do this probably better.
Alex Pal: Now to note though is like we don't have a toolbox talk in the morning with 60 employees. It's not that we generally contract these jobs. So we have our preferred vendors in every single one, and we throw these guys so much work that a lot of them like, or for us or our clients that we refer them to almost full time. So we've grown really close with a lot of these guys and we have a tremendous working relationship.
Often when people are looking to get this done and they're like, I don't have the resources, the time or the energy to do this after work when I've got kids at home, those kind of things, that's where we're like, okay, listen, we can help you guys out with that. More often than not, it actually makes more sense on the joint venture side itself.
As the construction, and once again, like it, it is baby steps. We've started doing it right now and it's working out really well. And we've had some really great feedback from our clients who we have helped out. However, you don't wanna get to a position where you start taking on too much and then you have the opposite effect.
Kaely Pal: We'll have more solid numbers screening out episode three.
Alfonso Salemi: I love it. Yes. And if there's something that I can say about both of you that, you know getting to know you over the last few years and just your business mentality and even just your life mentality, you don't let things phase you. There's, we all know things are gonna happen, things are gonna come up.
Even just in conversations when we were in the REITE club room or even just passing phone calls with each other, it's just that next challenge that is, it's not an obstacle or the end. How do we work through that? And I know you guys have seen your fair share of different challenges on different projects.
Maybe you share that with the REITE club because sometimes, when we're talking to you, oh, we've 16 properties. Oh, now we have construction. It just sounds so oh, it's great, everything is awesome. But you guys just have that nature of, that it doesn't phase you guys and you guys keep trucking along. But maybe share maybe one or two of the challenges of a project or as you're putting a team together.
I know Alex you were at a committee of adjustment hearings, dealing with all the neighborhoods. I dunno if you wanna talk about that, but Yeah. So maybe some of the challenges. You've gotten over and been able to talk about that and written a book about it too, I should add.
Alex Pal: It's actually a good question. I think that there's challenges that we face every day in every facet. Like literally every, in construction, there's so many moving parts that even a project that goes well, we'll have had 50 to a hundred different little issues. However, if those issues eat you apart, And you're not able to confront them and just work through them or have the right people in place, that can be it.
That effectively, if you wanna know, one of the biggest challenges this year is having the right people in place. And you have to go through that. I think I was thinking, how do you avoid that? How do you know if you have the right person in place? You don't. You gotta go with it a little bit and then you gotta test it out and say, okay, this is working and this isn't.
It's an iterative process that is still something that we go through to this day. Contractors have some that are hungry for work, but then all of a sudden you have ones that get too busy and then you're stuck in a situation where you have to move. That's why now we've expanded to the point where we're giving ourselves a lot of options that we're, we have multiple sub trees that we've been using consistently.
Kaely Pal: I think you have to be dynamic as well. Things change very quickly. And again, one of the things we love about investing, even speaking on exit strategies, right? You might have a plan for one property and it doesn't go the way you thought or the market shifts. And things change a little bit, but then you just tweak your exit strategy, right? You hold it or maybe you sell it. We sold a property that we were convinced we were gonna keep, and it worked out great.
Alex Pal: Yeah, for sure.
Kaely Pal: We don't normally like to sell them, but this one we didn't. It worked out fine.
Sarah Larbi: You've obviously got your realtor business, you've got your investment portfolio, you've got your JVs, you've got your construction business, you've got your management business and you've got a child that's, what, is he two, three right now?
Kaely Pal: He's 14 months old.
Sarah Larbi: Oh, 14 months. So not even. And one on the way. So how do you manage? Your day-to-day life, like how do you ensure that you still have time to spend for yourselves, your families?
Kaely Pal: It's a good question. I like, honestly I feel like we spend a ton of time with family and we get to see friends. I think you don't know. I'm much more mellow than. I love him, but he's definitely our higher energy. So maybe it's the balance, right? You just have to one's more grounded. The other one's a little bit more of the pusher.
Alex Pal: One thing that's been a big win for me, like we've got Melissa on board who's like our ops coordinator here, and she is just dynamite. And I think one thing that we really try to do on the team. Not try, we intend to do it on the team, if we wanna empower the people that are on our team to get to a better level. So one thing is we always have a 411 meeting every single month where it outlines what their job goals are, their own personal business goals, their family goals, and then their fitness goals, those kinds of things, right?
What we're trying to do is allow, and there's a point to this that we're trying to allow them to grow. And create an environment that they can grow in as well. And by doing that, it empowers them to take some of that load off of us. And I'm telling you, it's, I make that sound super easy. It's something I have a serious amount of trouble with personally because I have this old school Eastern European mentality that if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself, kind of thing.
It's something that we're you. It's a struggle. And full disclosure, Kaely and I talk a lot about work at home and in one part we do that because we're extremely passionate about it. We just love it. We do find time to do other things too, but it's just a matter of we're super into creating these exciting things.
Kaely Pal: We are very lucky to be in the world that we truly love. I think about that too. I'm like, my God, not only do I, like Alex is my husband, my business partner, I live with him full-time. I work with him full-time. Like we're always together, and it's true. A lot of our downtime is spent.
Planning and talking about properties and looking at properties and what should we do next? And I think that if we weren't in something that we were so passionate about, that probably would be a detriment. But we're both, how great is this? This is what we do for a living. We love it.
Awesome. And we get to network with you guys that are very similar and you guys have all the same passions. And that I just think is. When you do what you love, even though there's challenges, you just find a way to get through it and it's okay. Cause it's all just an opportunity to learn. 2021 will be even bigger. Anyone that's coming out at the end of this year, surely to God, you must know that because this has been a challenging year for everybody. It's just, it's on to bigger and better things, right?
Alex Pal: Don't let it think that there are days that royally suck. It's just Oh, for sure. The way it works and you just keep going.
Kaely Pal: That's why there's one.
Alfonso Salemi: That's the thing is you can see the passion. When we were in the rooms at REITE Club and Alex, and you'd be holding court, there'd be like 10 people around you and all asking you questions and just, it comes from the soul.
It comes from the heart that you're giving that. With all of it. It's not, there's no ulterior motives or no secretness. It's just, Hey, this is what we're doing, this is what we're planning on doing, and you're right out with that. And that also goes to speak to the group that you put together in Hamilton as well too, with gain, having those real estate investors coming together, having different speakers sharing that information.
Because I know the stories and we've shared with, through family members that you've helped and now your staff and employees that you guys are helping to build that portfolio. And again, now obviously your joint venture partners that you're saying, Hey, it is possible, 14 month, year old, one on the way.
We're still bringing on new business. We're not letting anything stop us. And I just wrote down that you guys are action takers and you guys are okay and nothing is perfect, guys, and I can't repeat this enough. And if you guys are listening to this at one, Time, speed or whatever that is on the podcast.
Nothing is perfect. It's that pursuit of that perfection and going on that goal and you're not letting anything stop you. So what are you guys excited about? What gets you going? What's a project that you're like, oh man, this one.
It's been, we're working on getting to the next step, or, it's been a long haul and now we've gotten some successes along the way. Or maybe, I don't know if there's not, what's something in the business if it's not a project. Obviously excited about a second baby on the way. But in terms of business.
Alex Pal: I'll talk about an exciting project and how about you talk about a business, how's that.
Kaely Pal: Sure his point, he's poking me like I know what he's talking about.
Alex Pal: Oh yeah. I wanna cue you up you can. But anyway. Ok. So we've got. I'm really excited. We've got a couple really exciting projects right now that I just can't wait to see start to churn, once the construction is done, we haven't built it, but we have a five unit conversion we're doing in Wellen.
It's like a $430,000 construction. And this is, we bought two commercial, two residential buildings that were on the same lot as the detached house, and we bought it in competition. Kaely sent it to me. She said, you should go check out this place. We bought it in competition for $285,000. We considered $300,000.
There was like five offers and we got 15 grand under asking. Wow. With a one month conditional period. Cause I didn't even know what the heck. So we bought this place and immediately there was some real estate agent that was so pissed off. She missed out on the deal. I guess she was just late to the party and offered us $320,000 to take it off of us.
We said no. So we just got approval. I don't know Ken had this little thing, but it's been a long time like trying to get all the things together, plus Covid hit the slows everything down within the city and things like that. But we just got approval to sever the duplex, or, sorry, sever the property, which is just single family.
I don't even know why I said duplex, but sever the single family property and we're just gonna flip that property, not single family home. It's like two stories and a total square feet of about 700. Super tiny. But we'll sell it on its own for $250,000.
Sarah Larbi: So you've pretty much made your money back on one piece of that.
Alex Pal: One piece. And then we have this five so this other property that we've gotten permission because it's our own multiple dwelling, we've gotten permission for a legal five unit. Nice. We have three, oh, sorry, two, three bedrooms. Two bedrooms and one one bedroom. And so even after parking and even after we're considering that, it's gonna reap an appraisal closer to the 657 mark it at that number. It's cash flow, $1,700 a month.
Sarah Larbi: And that was on the MLS?
Alex Pal: That was on the MLS And multiple offers. Mind blowing.
Sarah Larbi: There are no excuses, there's deals to be had. You just gotta be a little bit patient, but take action and make offers when they do come.
Kaely Pal: Be patient and then act fast. That's everyone's mistake.
Alex Pal: Don't put in a home inspection condition. Whatever you do. Don't put in a home inspection.
Kaely Pal: You put in one month of due diligence.
Alex Pal: I wasn't even serious at the time. Oh, sorry. That's a stupid thing to say. I'm always serious when I wanna buy properties, but I thought, okay, like I need this time. I'm sorry. Like it had a laundry mat in it. You need to have a phase one environmental blend. I'm not gonna buy it without a phase one environmental cause I'm not gonna put our partners at risk like that. They're like, oh yeah, no problem. Okay, great.
Sarah Larbi: They took your one month's conditions. And they were, did you know if other offers were higher, they just had an inspection condition or something else that the seller didn't, or the seller didn't wanna take?
Alex Pal: I think it was the price, mainly why they didn't take ours. And the agent on the other side of the deal was exactly like, she was super nice. And I think that she was maybe a newer agent. I don't know. But her boss was in like The Bahamas or something. So she was trying to communicate with him, but we walked through it together.
By the end the seller was very happy, actually. He wrote us a couple letters that we needed for, from the city standpoint, he's being extremely cooperative. The one neighbor, not so much, but that's okay.
Kaely Pal: You get 'em on every project, we always get 'em.
Sarah Larbi: It is pretty incredible. And I do wanna go back to the fact that in 2020 you bought 16 properties. And you grew your portfolio while a lot of people were probably scared to take action. Can you tell us about some of the deals that you've been able to do, just similar to this one, like that isn't a home run deal, like that's awesome. Were the other ones in competition, were the other ones off market? Were they on the market? Can you give us some insight on what they work on?
Kaely Pal: Most are off. I'm trying to think of the 16. We do buy on the market though too, as well. There's always opportunities. I think truthfully, you just have to be swift and you have to be quick. That's the only thing.
Alex Pal: One thing we've had a lot of luck, or not luck, but like it's worked out really well, is joint ventures with the owner of a property.
Sarah Larbi: That is interesting. Let's talk about.
Alex Pal: Yeah, it was really cool. So we had a property up on the Hamilton Mountain and we were in competition for it and the property had no mortgage. And it was a girl that was about our age and her mom was there too, and her mom was steering the ship as to what they think they should do, and this is what they want. They didn't wanna deal with realtors, they just wanted to sell it.
Of course, I always disclose I'm a realtor, but in this position, I'm coming in as a buyer, wanting to buy the place. So they were wanting $420,000 for their property on the Hamilton. And this is like a one and a half story with a low basement. So at the time too, like even buying in the four 20 s, like I'm kinda it's a little pricey. Now it's like you can't find anything on Hamilton Mountain for that.
I said, listen, you guys don't have a mortgage. What's your plans after you sell this? Like you're just gonna have $420,000 and then what are you gonna do? I'm gonna go move in with my brother. And then I said, okay, what about the money? Are you gonna do anything with it?
I pitched them the idea of like, why don't you not sell it outright, but why don't you sell a 50% interest in the future equity growth of the property? Now you're still owed, agree on the 420,000, but you guys will pony up the $80,000 to renovate this property. And so I walked them through it.
It was a couple of different meetings to show 'em ropes. I actually showed them a few of our ongoing projects and they agreed. So they say, yeah, so installments of $20,000 as the project went along, and now that property's worth about 650,000. So on the refi, they'll get there four 20 back out.
I forget there might be a little bit of money left in the deal of the renovation costs, but they still keep 50% of the equity of the. And that property's cash flowing now, so that property's gonna pay for the next however many years we decide to keep it. So literally, from a home seller's perspective, she wasn't interested in anything else other than maybe keeping the money, but now she gets to have her cake and eat it too, which I just thought was like a really cool win-win.
Since that's happened, we've run into a few people that are in the same position. It's Hey, yeah, do you just wanna partner on your own deal? And now it's awesome. We've got three on the board right now with the home. That's great.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. Can I just ask a quick question? Who goes on the mortgage essentially? Was this done privately? Was this done she was just holding onto it until you refinanced it. Can you give us a little bit more insight and then how she gets her money back? Is it on sale when you do sell it?
Alex Pal: On the refinance. So they get their money back on the refi. On the initial refinance. And the way we set up our joint venture partnerships is that, obviously there's a, like a smaller fee to just manage the construction cause we have to keep the lights on and pay our project coordinators and stuff like that. However, it's all worked into the construction cost, in which we are completely open books with our partners, so they know exactly where money is being allocated at all times.
Once the renovations done, we refinance it at the new appraised value, that initial money goes back to them. So we have gotten into a partner. With the expectation that technically they've sold their interest of this property to the joint venture, and so that 420,000 sale price is technically owed to them.
Whereas in one scenario, they would've sold the property, gotten $420,000, and then see, they're out the door.
They don't see another nickel from it. Whereas in this, they do have to pony up a little bit of upfront cash, the $80,000, but that as well, that $80,000 contribution construction also gets refinanced and paid back to them. So whether it takes, it's on the first refinance or it might take another year from there, but regardless, that money's still working really hard for them.
On the back end, they're the only ones on the mortgage. So we do not want to be on the mortgage, right? Because it fixes how many properties we can then purchase our ratio. Just garbage like the residential side.
Sarah Larbi: Behind the scenes. And then you've got them on title, on the mortgage, and then you have a 50-50 ownership. Now, because they own the property, free and clear. Then essentially that's how she got her four 20 back, right?
Kaely Pal: She'd still have to qualify for the ARV, like the after.
Sarah Larbi: Yeah, obviously. It's cool. Like I will tell you, it's very strategic. It's very, it's good, it's clever. It's thinking outside the box and in markets like this is gonna be more and more important to do is just to find the right deals and to get the right deals, to be able to think creatively like you guys. So congrats on that. That's great.
Alex Pal: It was funny that the two deals that they were weighing out was one was ours as a partner and the other was a vendor take. Because as well, like people think that money is a massive motivator and people just wanna sell and hold onto their cash. Sometimes people are, I have no idea what the hell I'm gonna do with all this money. Okay, put it to work. And now at the same time she's gonna get it all anyways, so maybe they'll do another deal with us. Who knows.
Alfonso Salemi: Yeah. When I'm hearing that, it's almost like a VTB with benefits, right? So it's, on top of the vendor taking back that, we hear about being creative. And that is so creative and it's so cliche, guys. You have to be creative, but that really is putting it down and understanding.
Having a few conversations and uncovering what their needs are. Their need wasn't more money. They had, they were gonna get that from you, from the next person, whoever was gonna buy that property, but it was uncovering needs and now giving them a cash flow and giving them some income on top of that.
That's great. And you guys are so creative and are so true. When we have those conversations or I see you have conversations with people, you guys are asking such good questions and I'm not sure if that's, I'm pretty sure it's from your nature. But of all the training and education that you guys have done with yourselves and that you have gone through and like you guys are avid readers and you've given me so many books throughout the years as well too that I've learned from and educated.
When we're saying to people to be creative out there, it's not just an analogy, and I know I use those a lot, but really it's being creative and finding different ways of how it's gonna be for different people. You can't just copy and paste that, but it's cool. It sounds like you guys have a whole system now around if that opportunity does present itself on how to attract people and go through that.
Kaely Pal: Yeah. It's just another option, right? Again, that option might not be for everyone and it's obviously not gonna work for every single person or partner, but it adds an extra property to our portfolio and it gives them a whole different take on investing. They get a great return.
Alex Pal: They get cash flow.
I'll give you an example on the other one that we did just like that. It wasn't free and clear, but the property was an absolute dump and it had a bunch of tenants in there that were literally running circles around this poor landlord. He's honestly like the nicest human being I've ever met in my entire life.
Is just an incredible individual. And when we had seen the property and it was a driving for dollars lead, like literally I Melissa on our team drove by and she's you gotta see this property. And she, so we Googled it and it's like lime green exterior and it just looks anyway, so I dug in, I found the guy's corporation and I found who owns the corporation, and I did a reverse search on the yellow pages on Can of four 11. I found his home address. So then I literally got his home phone number and I called, I was like, do you own this property? And I was like, have you ever thought of selling? He's yes, I have. Can you meet me? And he literally met me like the next day.
Alfonso Salemi: Be there in five minutes.
Alex Pal: Yeah. So then once again I was like are you like, what are you looking to do? Are you still considering investing in real estate? He's yes I'd love to invest in real estate, but he's honestly the nicest guy, and they, he like, these people were just so inconsiderate. Like he would go and buy them furniture and make sure that he was like rolling out a red carpet. Yeah. He was definitely taken advantage of and they were like, not take care of the place, throw their garbage all over the place, not pay him rent or pay rent when they felt like it, just string 'me along.
Finally we got in there and it was like, oh, okay, this is what has to happen. We actually kept one of the tenants who we've now created a really great relationship with. We moved her upstairs when the main four folks left, and we renovated her. And he obviously put in the upfront capital to renovate the unit.
We agreed on a baseline price that we thought was fair between the two of us, that his property would be worth in an as-is condition, that he would then get back from the joint venture agreement. And so when we finished renovating the basement and then the tenant moved back downstairs, she's great. And she actually agreed to a $250 pricing and in her unit because now we have given her quartz countertops, brand new kitchen.
Kaely Pal: Which is now in line with fair market value.
Alex Pal: She totally is now at fair market values and she's been excellent. She's now super invigorated that she's living in a nice unit and she's taking pride in it, so it works. And now she brought her best friend in which we just got we just like literally qualified her up, down, left and right and they're gonna be paying us like 1600 bucks a month rent. Up for the up upstairs unit.
Now our partner is ecstatic. He doesn't have to deal with anything. We're gonna go refinance it. He's gonna pull all his money back out, and then he's chomping at the bit. Right now he's already set us up with his second property. He wants to do the same thing. And then he wants to go do a bunch more after he's got his money out.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. So how did you guys get the tenants that weren't paying and that were the trouble ones? Was it cash for keys or did you have to go through the board.
Alex Pal: Luckily it was like they were already on the fritz out and it was like by the time they were leaving too, it was just Sajad was just helping them out the door a little bit there, but they, it didn't have, it didn't escalate to anything like that, which is good.
Kaely Pal: Yeah. We have dealt with our fair share. I think everyone has a share.
Sarah Larbi: That's always the unknown, right? Is how easily you gonna get these problem tenants out and how much court are you gonna have to go through and the other thing I would say is, so you've got this tenant that seemed to be cooperative.
You moved her into one unit, she moved back at a higher price, technically, quite unquote, like that's, not necessarily something that most people will do, but if you agree and they agree and everyone is happy, none of this stuff needs to be going through any formal process.
It's basically we'll give you this unit. We're gonna do this. Are you willing to pay more? Yep. Okay. Sure. It doesn't have to be this big process where it, where then, it sucks, is if they're like, Nope, I wanna come back at the same price. And then you've gotta go do the paperwork and then you've gotta figure out, okay, how do you maneuver?
Kaely Pal: You left out in that case that she was so accommodating. That's the role of the ice. However, like I will say, people that are looking for properties, taking on problem tenants or if you have the resources or the skillset to deal with that, there's massive opportunities to purchase those types of properties because the average person is not gonna want them.
They're gonna be challenging. So in this market, in this climate. If you're looking to get in or buy something at a really great price, maybe be strategic looking for those. If you can handle it again, like it's not for everybody.
Alex Pal: It is sad. To be honest with you. And I know Sarah, you're really involved in the landlord tenant kind of initiatives, which is incredible. And you guys are built like the REITE Club in general.
I have a tremendous, and we have a tremendous amount of gratitude towards you guys, just sharing a lot of the struggles and a lot of the realities, and a lot of the resources that are available to people that are struggling going through this, because I've, sometimes, I'm blown away at how broken a system can be in a province that I hold to such a high esteem. I have a tremendous amount of admiration for living in Ontario and I consider myself so lucky to be living in Canada and here, and it. How did they mess this up so bad? How is it so terrible?
Kaely Pal: That you can be held hostage.
Alex Pal: Totally. We had a tenant, we bought an apartment building and we had a tenant in there who hadn't paid rent in four months to the previous owner. And then we took on the property and she didn't pay rent for eight further months. So she was in a year with no rent. And there's zero recourse.
Luckily she just woke up and left one day. And the property man, like literally it was like popping a bottle of champagne when it happened. Cause it's like, what the, what can, what are you gonna do?
The fact that's a question is so ridiculous in my mind. What has brought to light is how rigorous we are in our tenant screening process now. It's something we do not screw around with it. Imperative that you get that if you're not a seasoned investor, you never rented a tenant or sorry rented a unit before, don't wing it. It will screw you over big time. Do not wing it.
Alfonso Salemi: That's, to, you're speaking about the REITE club, but it's made up of people exactly like you, that you get those issues, you get those problems, but it's not gonna stop you. It's not gonna, you're just not gonna say, oh, woe is me.
The system's broken. You're gonna find creative ways or a way to get through it because this is our business. This is what we do, this is gonna happen. Again we're not just gonna change the system overnight. We're gonna have to work with the governing bodies that worry about that stuff or take care of those things and they don't see us.
We're the boots on the ground that are dealing with the tenants, the clients, but it's being creative and getting past that and not letting it deter you to go on to that next project and the next deal just because you had a bad client or you heard somebody had a bad one. It's not gonna stop you from buying real estate.
Kudos to you guys for handling it, taking it on. And that's what I think what it really boils down to is it's not about the lots and the land or the bricks and the sticks. It's about the people. It's really about the people, right? We talk about our partners, we talk about the tenants, and we talk about the right club of the people in the community.
That we can share these experiences. At the very least, maybe it's like a free therapy session for everybody to make you feel like you're not alone out there. If you're not a problem client, you're not alone. Reach out.
Kaely Pal: We've had it worse.
Alfonso Salemi: Yeah, it's everybody's gonna be commiserating together, but through that. We'll find that solution. And you guys have been so gracious with your time and sharing those experiences, multiple times and like I said, Alex holding court at the REITE Club, talking to different people and sharing those experiences. That's where that growth comes from. And getting beyond that. And this is just another example of how amazing you guys are.
Alex Pal: You guys are the best. You know that.
Kaely Pal: We do.
Sarah Larbi: Sooner or later we'll be able to all hang out again and like in person.
Kaely Pal: I know to stand in a circle and be excited to be there.
Sarah Larbi: I know. Awesome. So guys, the next part of the podcast is our lightning round. So we're gonna take turns. Alfonso and I are asking you four different questions and you guys can each provide a separate answer. Just keep it within 10 seconds each. Are you ready?
Kaely Pal: Yep.
Sarah Larbi: All right. Question number one. What is the best advice that you have ever received from another investor or at a networking event?
Kaely Pal: Take action.
Alex Pal: Your best resource is being resourceful.
Alfonso Salemi: Ooh, I like that. That's gotta go on a plaque or something.
Kaely Pal: That actually is a common mantra of Alex's.
Alfonso Salemi: That is definitely a resource. Alright, so question number two. What is your favorite resource for real estate investing? And that could be anything. A book, a training, a person. What is your favorite resource?
Alex Pal: I would say other Investors. I'm gonna say the same thing about networking. That's why I think networking, the REITE club is so valuable to us and that's why it like Yes, holds such a dear place in our hearts because of some of the closest relationship with people that we collaborate with and talk with and it's if I have some questions myself, cause it always come up. I know that's someone at the REITE Club who I've connected with and I'm growing relations with. Empowering me.
Sarah Larbi: Awesome. Thanks guys. Number three, what is the one attribute in your opinion, that has made you most successful,
Alex Pal: Taking action.
Kaely Pal: Yeah. We're reckless action takers.
Alex Pal: No. Reckless.
Kaely Pal: I mean that in a good way. I would say I'm an excessive optimist.
Alex Pal: Yeah. Okay.
Kaely Pal: We just take action and we figure it out. If it doesn't work, we rotate and then we do it again. I don't know. I think you have to be.
Alex Pal: You do have to take the plunge. Sometimes you can analyze left and center, but sometimes you gotta close your eyes, plugged your nose.
Kaely Pal: We're confident action takers there. I'll replace the reckless.
Alfonso Salemi: Yeah, I love it.
Alex Pal: We'll buy anything.
Alfonso Salemi: Definitely check out those YouTube videos because those are some properties. Again, maybe, that color of lime green is the color of money.
Kaely Pal: If they say everything comes back in style, if we just leave it for 20 years, it might be the next be.
Alfonso Salemi: Alright. So last question of the lightning round. On a typical Sunday morning, what are you guys up to?
Kaely Pal: Having coffee and we're spending time with our bubba, the baby James.
Alfonso Salemi: He is so friggin adorable. He is so cute. I can't wait to meet number two, but yeah. That's awesome.
Alex Pal: That brought him, is like his favorite.
Kaely Pal: Yeah. It's like a monster truck Boy. He loves it.
Alfonso Salemi: Nice guys. If the REITE club community wanted to get in touch with you and reach out and get some of that amazing experience from you guys, how can they do that?
Alex Pal: They can go on our website www.palpropertysolutions.com and they can also check out YouTube Pal proper solutions just for some kind of cool videos that we've been doing. Also, it's a free resource to anybody should they want it. We have a free book that you can download off the website.
Once again, you don't have to pay a thing for it. It's just called Getting your Foot in the. It's a very high level idea of, if you'd like to get into real estate investing and you wanted to see what that's read getting your foot in the door because it's just it's a good easy rate. Super, really read it in the hour and a half.
Sarah Larbi: Very cool. Did you write it together?
Kaely Pal: No, Alex wrote it.
Alex Pal: I'm not a writer.
Kaely Pal: I edited it.
Sarah Larbi: Ok, cool. Teamwork.
Alfonso Salemi: Teamwork. I have my autographed copy on my bookshelf and I keep it close by. It's a great resource.
Kaely Pal: It's not through your pillow.
Alfonso Salemi: It's on my nightstand.
Kaely Pal: Take it at night.
Sarah Larbi: Nice. And we always ask this at the end, guys, any final last words of advice for the REITE Club Nation?
Kaely Pal: Get involved. Yep. Reach out. There's so many resources and so many amazing people doing great things. So it doesn't really matter what type of investing you're looking to get into, there's somebody doing it at a high level that honestly would take time out of there. To just have a quick chat or a call or an email, just reach out. Honestly, this is what this network is for.
Alex Pal: Your network is your net worth. I never believed it until I lived it, and I think that it is just such a powerful thing, like literally the people you surround yourself with, there's that idea that you take the five closest people that you hang out with the most and you average their income and that's what you make.
If you ever thought about that, it's eerie how. How accurate that is. And so you know that, that might be fine. These people might be like the best people to you. But if you're looking to grow and you're looking to challenge yourself and you want to take action, don't just do things and put all this energy into the first step of it and then do nothing.
Reach out to people and network with people. Surround yourself with the right environment, such as the REITE club where people who have taken action will inspire you and you'll have no choice. You'll take action.
Kaely Pal: You'll have to leave your excuses at the door.
Alex Pal: For sure.
Sarah Larbi: I love it. Thanks so much guys, for being on the show. It's been a pleasure.
Kaely Pal: Great chat with you guys again.
Alex Pal: Thank you.
Sarah Larbi: That was a fun podcast. Alex and Kaely are probably some of the nicest people I know and super generous with their information and their time and wanting to help others, and you can definitely tell, and I'm so excited for her baby number two as well.
Like they have such, the one boy so far is so cute. Like he's so adorable and they are good people that take action. It's really cool also to see like a power couple, like they're both into it. They're both helping each other. They're Reaching goals together. And it's just great that they're both so on board and motivated and love passionate about what they're doing, which is great to see.
Alfonso Salemi: Absolutely just genuine, real people. And for those investor couples that are out there that are, maybe doing this as a side hustle right now, both of you guys working full-time and trying to build a real estate portfolio or bring on joint ventures or learn more and, getting all the information from the podcast that you're listening to, Sarah's podcast, the REITE Club community and all the resources that we have on there.
Guys, you can do it. Keep the truck, keep the trail. It's gonna be diverted, it's gonna go up and down, and it's gonna go sideways. It's gonna go all around. There is no perfect path. You're gonna get bumps and bruises and scrapes along the way, but continue to go. And they're perfect examples of not letting them stop or not letting those things stop them from continuing on moving forward, picking up those properties and being creative.
It sounds so cliche, and you need to be creative guys. You're never gonna go the minute that you find a home run deal the minute that you can buy. Guys really do your due diligence cause that's almost like a mirage or it's too good to be true, right? You find those okay deals that you can turn into amazing deals.
The longer that you have them, the longer that you hold them, the more information, the more people that you talk to. You see it from different perspectives and that's what's gonna get you those amazing deals. So there's no easy way. Definitely this is not an overnight thing. We didn't get to where we are today, overnight.
This is, now we're well over a hundred podcasts recorded that just didn't happen in an afternoon or something like that, or a weekend course. It's this time persistence, so keep at it along the journey. The REITE club is here to support you.
Along the way on behalf of Sarah Laurel and Daniel, this is one of the most rewarding things that we get to do on a consistent basis is seeing the growth of even just no properties, the one property to seeing the view of people of, wow, okay, we can do it. So thank you guys so much for listening in and tuning in.
Sarah Larbi: Absolutely. And Alfonso, you said it, that's the growth. So what do we say to the REITE club nation?
Alfonso Salemi: Come grow with us.
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